I have heard it said that art is a reflection of life. If that is indeed the case, then music, painting, drawing, theater, singing, DANCING is a reflection of life. What we dance about in our churches on Sunday mornings could be a reflection of the world around us. However, if you are part of a church dance ministry, then you are generally wed to the tenor of the worship service in preparing pieces to be minstered. What if though? What if we made pieces about the world around us and where God could be found in it all? A danced prayer for the war zone of Cairo, Egypt with peaceful protests turned violent by the “powers that be”. A prayer of restoration for the broken education system. What about a danced prayer for the healing of those diseases we have come to accept, like prostate and breast cancer? I don’t know. Perhaps the church is not the place for such work. Perhaps dance ministries should leave such conversations to the journalists and others. Perhaps it is enough to simply dance about God, our love of God, God’s love for us. I invite your thoughts. What should we be dancing about in 2011?
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If not the church, then who? Who will speak? Who will go? Who will be the voice crying out in this present wilderness? If not on Sunday morning, then when? When will we stop doing church and be the church? Enough with church as usual. Enough with the four walls. Enough with upraised hands, and closed fists. Enough with church hats and polished pews. Enough with overflowing purses that offer the tithe, but no help for the hungry. Enough already. It’s time to stop singing about love, preaching about love, dancing about love, and do love. The cross reaches vertically and horizontally, and we forget that sometimes. We are so focused on our own selfish relationships with God, we forget about our fellow man. Enough.
Well put. Guess what I learned today, that I probably should have already known? The word synagogue in the Greek has nothing to do with a building, but simply denotes a gathering, assembly or connection of things. Crazy, huh? All this work to help the church understand the importance of ministry beyond the four walls and there it is, right there in the scriptures. What’s more is a synagogue was established wherever there were as many as ten Jewish men. So whenever we gather and wherever we gather in the name of JC, there is synagogue, a gathering, assembly or connection of people.